JUST IN: 5 Cardinals Who Should Be In The Hall Of Fame…

December 19, 2024 Aondofa Moses St. Louis Cardinals 0

Jul 21, 2024; Cooperstown, New York, USA; The Hall of Fame plaques of inductees Adrian Beltre and Jim Leyland and Todd Helton and Joe Mauer are installed and mounted during the induction ceremony at the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Mandatory Credit: Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

The St. Louis Cardinals, one of the most storied franchises in MLB history, have plenty of representation in the Baseball Hall of Fame. However, since the members of the BBWAA have several agonizing decisions to make every year, they often have to leave otherwise deserving players off of their ballots. Thus, there are a select few icons of the franchise who may deserve another look.

Even once a player receives less than 5% of the BBWAA vote in a given year, eliminating them for consideration, they are still subject to the consideration of a pair of Era Committees appointed by the Hall of Fame for the purpose of recognizing those players who were dealt an unfair hand. Were any of these players eventually elected to the Hall of Fame, it would be through their recognition by one of these two voting bodies.

For the sake of this exercise, active players and players who have retired but have not yet become eligible for the Hall of Fame ballot will not be considered. While this excludes some great players, such as Albert Pujols and Nolan Arenado, it allows for legends of Cardinals history to be revisited in more depth.

5 Cardinals Who Belong in the Hall of Fame

1. Jim Edmonds

Jim Edmonds, one of the most awe-inspiring defensive center fielders of all time, has a strong case for selection by the Era Committees. Across his career, he amassed a 60.4 bWAR, 1,949 hits, and 1,199 RBI.  In addition to this, he was an eight-time Gold Glove Award winner and is arguably the most flashy player to ever play his position.

His 51.5 JAWS (a metric developed to measure a player’s Hall of Fame resumé according to historical voting trends) is the 15th-best among center fielders all-time. Despite this, he shockingly received only 2.5% of the vote in 2016, eliminating him from consideration in future BBWAA ballots. However, 2016 featured a deep ballot headlined by Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza.

While the BBWAA ultimately did not give Edmonds his fair shot, he is a prime candidate for consideration by the Eras Committees.

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